Dukes sing a new tune in Hazzard reunion

Here’s an article I did for Country Weekly in April, 1997

Dukes sing a new tune in Hazzard reunion
By Linda F. Cauthen

Look out - the Dukes are back! And we don’t mean reruns!

Sure, Bo, Luke, Daisy and the rest of the clan have been on TNN for the last year, pickin’ up a whole new generation of followers, but now fans can catch the heroes of Hazzard County in a new adventure.

CBS-TV gets the gang back together for the made-for-television movie The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!, which will air Friday, April 25, 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. Eastern.
Almost all the original Dukes cast returns, including John Schneider (Bo Duke), Tom Wopat (Luke Duke), Catherine Bach (Daisy), Denver Pyle (Uncle Jesse), Ben Jones (Cooter), James Best (Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane), Sonny Shroyer (Deputy Enos) and Rick Hurst (Deputy Cletus.) Steve Wariner is aboard as musical director, while Don Williams takes over the narrator role originated by Waylon Jennings.

Missing is the late Sorrell Brooke, who portrayed the villainous “Boss” Hogg. The Dukes’ nemesis in The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! will be cigar-smoking sexpot Mama Max, played by Stella Stevens.

From the beginning, country music played a large part in the appeal of the show. Original Dukes producer and creator Gy Waldron says, “When I was structuring this show for TV, I followed the record industry. I looked at the strength of country music, and I realized that if we could get people who listen to country music to watch The Dukes of Hazzard, we would have the strongest audience in television.”

One of the orginal show’s running gags was that “Boss” Hogg was too cheap to hire famous acts to perform at his bar, so he had Sheriff Rosco set up a speed trap on the highway to nab unsuspecting country stars. The acts were then forced to sing for their bail. Stars caught in this sting included Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette and the Oak Ridge Boys. Waylon Jennings and Mel Tillis also acted on episodes of Dukes.

The CBS-TV movie has some new twists. “It’s the 200th anniversary of the founding of Hazzard County,” Waldron explains, “so there’s a big homecoming with a possum cook-off and a rattlesnake chili contest.”

Since the last episode was filmed in 1985, the characters have faced changes in their lives. “Bo Duke was going up to see the Grand Ole Opry, took a wrong turn at Charlotte and ended up a professional race car driver. Luke Duke left home to go out and change the world, and ended up being a senior smoke jumper for the forestry service,” Waldron explains.

“The biggest change, probably, is in Daisy. She ran off and got married to the wrong man and he abandoned her. She got a divorce and did the one thing she’s always wanted to do - go back to school. Rosco’s now both boss and sheriff, and he’s the most inept villain ever to come down the pike. Cooter took a bath, got shaved and ran for Congress! Uncle Jesse’s the only on that stayed home.”

The actors’ lives have also changed in the last decade. Besides movies and TV work, Schneider has four No.1 country songs and a No.1 album.

His San Antonio-based company, Faithworks, distributes family movies and music, and he now has a recurring role in the hit TV series Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.
Tom Wopat, who was host of TNN’s Prime Time Country for a while, has been pursuing dual careers in acting and music. He is currently in the CBS-TV series Cybill, and is recording a new album.

The two co-stars show off their singing talents on the new show’s opening theme song “Carryin’ On,” produced by Steve Wariner who says, “They both did a great job. You can tell they’re having fun. They’re whooping and hollering and acting crazy.”

Steve’s instrumental expertise is used for the incidental music, which Waldron describes as “fantastic.” He adds, “What we should have done was put out an album for this show. The music’s that good.”

And the comraderie of the cast is as good as ever, too. John Schneider says, “It felt like we finished work on a Friday and came back to work on a Monday and no time had passed.”